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Richard Lee Colvin

The
Broad Foundation has given the Hechinger Institute on Education and the
Media at Teachers College a grant to support an annual seminar for
journalists specializing in writing about K-12 education in each of the
next three years. The first seminar in the series is scheduled for the
fall of 2004.

The
new $270,000 grant builds on a relationship between the Institute and
the Foundation that began in 2002 with a seminar on "The Ins and Outs
of School Boards"; in 2003, the Foundation made possible a seminar on
"Charter Schools and Other Choices." Possible topics for the upcoming
Hechinger Institute seminars to be supported with the Broad grant
include urban schools, teacher unions, reading instruction, the
principalship, suburban schools and school finance.

"The
Hechinger Institute is helping to change the face of public education
by educating and inspiring the next generation of news reporters," said
Dan Katzir, managing director of the Broad Foundation. "Accurate and
insightful news coverage of K-12 public education reform provides the
American public with a real tool to hold our nation's school systems
accountable. Meaningful coverage of innovations in education as well as
failures helps educators share best practices and lessons learned. As a
national funder focused on improving education in urban cities, we are
proud to join forces with Hechinger."

The
Foundation was established in 1999 with a $100 million grant from Eli
Broad and his wife, Edythe. That amount was later increased to over
$400 million.

"The
Broad Foundation is taking the lead on a number of important
issues-leadership, incentives, school district management and
recognizing success and effort," said Richard Lee Colvin, the Director
of the Hechinger Institute. "I'm very pleased that Mr. Broad and his
staff at the foundation not only see the value of media coverage of
these and other education issues that is fair, accurate and insightful
but that they are willing to invest in helping make that happen."

Eli
Broad is chairman of AIG SunAmerica Inc., a leading financial services
company, and is the founder and chairman of KB Home, formerly known as
the Kaufman and Broad Home Corp. The foundation awards the Broad Prize
in Urban Education, which distributes $1 million to a winning school
district and four finalists to be used for scholarships or other
postsecondary training. The Foundation also funds the Broad Center for
Superintendents, the Broad Institute for School Boards and the Broad
Residency in Urban Education, to help young business leaders bring
their management expertise to urban school districts.

The
new grant will enable the Hechinger Institute to continue growing. The
Institute, named after Fred M. Hechinger, the former education editor
at the New York Times and a Trustee of the College, was created in 1996
by Teachers College President Arthur Levine to help the nation's
journalists deepen their knowledge of education and hone the craft. The
Institute's first seminar was held in July of 1997 and since then it
has organized five to six seminars annually featuring top national
experts.

In
2003, the Institute conducted nine seminars, the most ever in one year,
for over 200 journalists. Most of the nation's major
newspapers-including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington
Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Dallas Morning
News-sent reporters, editors or editorial writers to the seminars. Ten
events are being planned for 2004. Five will be for regional audiences
of journalists on the subject of the role of principals and
superintendents in boosting academic achievement. That work is
supported by a grant from The Wallace Foundation.

In
addition to grants from Broad and Wallace, the Institute has received
new financial support in the past year from the Ford Foundation and the
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.